Ransomware biggest threat for most Indian firms: Report

New Delhi, December 15 (IANS) As cyber attacks grow, 69 per cent of the organisations in India said that ransomware is a significant risk to them while 43 per cent revealed they have experienced ransomware attacks in the past year, a KPMG survey said on Friday.

Nearly 79 per cent organisations identified cybersecurity as one of the top five business risks while 81 per cent have cybersecurity budgets of less than 10 per cent of total planned budgets, said KPMG in India’s cybercrime survey report 2017.

“Cybercrime has moved from corporate espionage and theft of Intellectual Property to use of advanced technology and malicious software, with the intent of holding companies to ransom and the threat of sabotaging brand reputation with data security breaches,” said Akhilesh Tuteja, Partner and Head-Risk Consulting for KPMG in India.

About 58 per cent organisations have included cyber risk as part of the boardroom agenda which has moved up from 41 per cent as recorded in the 2015 KPMG survey.

The survey, that included CIOs, CISOs, CIAs, COOs, security professionals, top law enforcement officers and end users from all over India, highlighted that for 40 per cent of end users, cross-country jurisdictions being involved is a hindrance in lodging a complaint with the cyber cells.

“Not surprising then that a mere 3 per cent of the organisations have reported cyber incidents to a local law enforcement agency,” the report noted.

“Cyber breaches should no longer be looked upon as isolated incidents linked with IT or IT security. Organisations should consider it as an indicator to a potential cyber fraud and be vigilant online,” said Sudesh Anand Shetty, Partner-Risk Consulting, KPMG in India.

Organisations are increasingly adopting different measures to combat cybersecurity risks which include development of a thorough cybersecurity framework, risk assessment, cybersecurity awareness training, etc.

However, only 18 per cent organisations are of the opinion that they are fully prepared to withstand and respond to large scale cyber-attacks.

“Cyber-attacks are a reality in today’s world and there is a need for an organisation to have balance between the protect and response measures, currently the preparedness on response to cyber-attacks need to be enhanced significantly,” said Atul Gupta, Partner IT Advisory and Leader-Cyber security, KPMG in India.